so hardly perswaded that it would be forgiven you and now do you make so small a matter of it Did you then so much wonder at your folly that could so long let out your thoughts and affections upon the creature while you neglected God and Heaven and do you begin to look that way again Do you now grow familiar with a life so like to that whirh was once your state of death and bear that easily that once was the breaking of your heart O Christians turn not away from that God again who once fetcht you home with so much smart and so much grace with such a twist of Love and Fatherly severity Methinks when you remember how you were once awakened you should not easily fall asleep again And when you remember the thoughts which then were in your hearts and the tears that were in your eyes and the earnest prayers which you then put up that God would receive you and take you for his own you should not now forget him and live as if you could live without him Remember that so far as you withdraw your hearts from God and let them follow inferiour things so far you contradict his works upon your hearts so far you violate your Covenant with him or sin against it so far you are revolters and go against the principal part of your profest Religion Yea so far you are ungodly as you thus withdraw your hearts from God Cleave to him and prosecute your Covenant if you will have the saving benefits of his Love and Covenant 3. MOreover the servants of God are doubly obliged to walk with him because they have had that experience of the goodness the safety and the sweetness of it which strangers have not Do you not remember how glad you were when you first believed that he pardoned and accepted you And how much you rejoyced in his Love and entertainment And how much better you found your Fathers house than ever you had found your sinful state And how much sweeter his service was than you did before believe It 's like you can remember something like that which is described in Luk. 15. 20 22 23 24. And he arose and came to his Father But when he was yet a great way off his Father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him And the Son said unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy Son But the Father said to his servants Bring forth the best Robe and put it on him and put a Ring on his hand and Shooes on his feet and bring hither the fatted Calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry for this my Son was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found What would you have thought or said of this Prodigal if after all this he should have been weary of his Fathers house and company and have taken more pleasure in his former company Would you not have said he was a forgetful and unthankful wretch and worthy never more to be received I do not speak to you now as to Apostates that are turned ungodly and have quite forsaken God and Holiness But I beseech you consider what it is after such experiences and obligations as these so much as to abate your love and grow remiss and mindless and indifferent as if you were aweary of God and were inclined to neglect him and look again to the world for your hope and satisfaction and delight As you love your souls and as you would avoid the sorrows which are greater than any that ever you felt take heed of fleighting the Love that hath done such wonders for you and of dealing so unthankfully with the everliving God and of turning thus away from him that hath received you Remember whilst you live the Love of your espousals Was God so good to you at the first and holiness so desirable and is it not so still And I am sure that your own experience will bear witness that since that time in all your lives it never was so well with you as when you walked most faithfully with God If you have received any falls and hurts it hath been when you have stragled from him If ever you had safety peace or joy it hath been when you have been nearest to him your wounds and grief and death hath been the fruit of your own waies and of your forsaking him Your recovery and health and life have been the fruit of his waies and of your adhering to him Many and many a time you have confessed this and have said It is good for me to draw near to God He hath helped you when none else could help you and comforted you when none else could comfort you How far are you above the worldlings happiness when you are nigh to God One lively thought of his Greatness and Excellency and of his Love to you in Jesus Christ will make the name of wealth and honour and favour and preferment and sensual pleasures to seem to you as words of no signification How indifferent will you be as to your prosperity in the world when you feel what it is to walk with God If you are lively experimental Christians you have found this to be true Have you not found that it is the very Health and Ease and proper employment of your souls to walk with God and keep close to him And that all goes well with you while you can do thus however the world doth esteem or use you And that when you grow strange or disobedient to God and mindless of his Goodness his presence and his authority you are like the stomach that is sick and like a bone that is out of joynt that can have no ease till it be healed and restored to its proper place No meats or drinks no company nor recreation no wealth or greatness will serve to make a sick man well or ease the dislocated bones Nothing will serve a faithful holy soul but God This is the cause of the dolour of his heart and of the secret groans and complainings of his life because in this life of distance and imperfection he finds himself so far from God and when he hath done all that he can he is still so dark and strange and cold in his affections when persecution driveth him from the Ordinances and publick Worship or when sin hath set him at a greater distance from his God he bemoaneth his soul as David in his banishment from the Tabernacle Psal. 42. 1 2 c. As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My soul thirsteth for God for the living God When shall I come and appear before God My tears have been my meat day and night while they continually say unto me Where is thy God And it is no wonder if with his greatest joy he be yet clouded with these sorrows because he yet
say I will condemn thee to everlasting punishment if thou wilt not keep my Laws And if men say We will condemn thee to imprisonment or death if thou keep them the believer more feareth God than man The Law of the King doth condemn Daniel to the Lyons den if he forbear not to pray for a certain time But he more feareth God that will deny those that deny him and forsake those that forsake him Therefore the forementioned witnesses ventured on the fiery furnace because God threatned a more dreadful fire Therefore a true believer dare not live when an unbeliever dare not die He dare not save his life from God lest he lose it but loseth it that he may save it But unbelievers that walk not with God but after the flesh do most fear them that they observe most powerful in the world and will more be moved with the penalty of some worldly loss or suffering then with Gods most dreadful threats of Hell For that which they see not is to them as nothing while they want that faith by which it is foreknown and must be escaped 6. Moreover he that walks with God doth from God expect his full reward He ceaseth not his holy course though no man observe him or none commend him or approve him though all about him hate him and condemn him though he be so far from gaining by it with men that it cost him all that he hath or hoped for in the world For he knoweth that Godliness is of it self great gain and that it hath the promise of this life and that to come and none can make Gods promise void He knoweth that his Father which seeth in secret will reward him openly Matth. 6. and that he shall have a treasure in heaven that parteth with all on earth for Christ Luk. 18. 22. And he hath such respect to this promised recompence of reward that for it he can suffer with the people of God and account the very reproach of Christ a greater treasure then Court or Country can afford him in a way of sin Heb. 11. 26. He accounteth them blessed that are persecuted for righteousness sake because the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs He judgeth it a cause of exceeding joy to be reviled and persecuted and to have all manner of evil falsly spoken of us for the sake of Christ because our reward in Heaven is great Matth. 5. 10 11 12. For he verily believeth that as sure as these transitory pleasures will have an end and everlastingly forsake those miserable souls that were deluded by them so certainly is there a life of endless joyes to be possessed in Heaven with God and all the Holy ones and this he will trust to as that which will fully repair his losses and repay his cost and not deceive him Let others trust to what they will it is this that he is resolved to trust to and venture all to make it sure when he is sure that All is Nothing which he ventureth and that by the adventure he can never be a loser nor never save by choosing that which it self must perish Thus he that truly walks with God expecteth his Reward from God and with God and thence is encouraged in all his duty and thence is emboldned in all his conflicts and thence is upheld and comforted in his sufferings When Man is the Rewarder as well as the chief Ruler of the Hypocrite and earthly things are the poise and motives to his earthly mind 7. Our walking with God importeth that as we expect our Reward from him so also that we take his Promise for our security for that Reward Believing his Word and trusting his fidelity to the quieting and emboldening of the soul is part of our holy walking with him A promise of God is greater satisfaction and encouragement to a true believer than all the visible things on earth A promise of God can do more and prevail further with an upright soul than all the sensible objects in the world He will do more and go further upon such a promise then he will for all that man can give him Peruse the life of Christs Apostles and see what a promise of Christ can do How it made them forsake all earthly pleasures possessions and hopes and part with friends and houses and Country and travail up and down the world in dangers and sufferings and unwearied labours despised and abused by great and small and all this to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom which they had never seen and to attain that Everlasting Happiness and help others to attain it for which they had nothing but the promise of their Lord. See what a promise well believed will make a Christian do and suffer Believers did those noble acts and the Martyrs under went those torments which are mentioned Heb. 11. because they judged him faithful that had promised Heb. 11. 11. They considered not difficulties and defect of means and improbabilities as to second causes nor staggered at the promise of God through unbelief but being strong in faith gave glory to God being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was also able to perform As it is said of Abraham Rom. 4. 19 20 21. 8. To walk with God is to live as in his presence and that with desire and delight When we believe and apprehend that whereever we are we are before the Lord who seeth our hearts and all our waies who knoweth every thought we think and every word we speak and every secret thing which we do As verily to believe that God is here present and observeth all as we do that we our selves are here To compose our minds our thoughts our affections to that Holy reverence and seriousness as beseemeth man before his Maker To order our words with that care and gravity as beseems those that speak in the hearing of the Lord. That no mans presence do seem more considerable to us then his presence As we are not moved at the presence of a fly or worm or dog when persons of honour and reverence are present so should we not comparatively be moved at the presence of man how great or rich or terrible soever when we know that God himself is present to whom the greatest of the sons of men is more inconsiderable then a fly or worm is unto them As the presence of the King makes ordinary standers by to be unobserved and the discourses of the learned make us disregard the bablings of children so the presence of God should make the greatest to be scarce observed or regarded in comparison of him God who is still with us should so much take up our regard that all others in his presence should be but as a candle in the presence of the sun Therefore it is that a believer composeth himself to that behaviour which he knoweth God doth most expect and beseemeth those that stand before him when others accommodate themselves to the persons that are present observing
talents and must make it our daily study and business to do him the greatest service we are able whatever it may cost us through the malice of the enemies being sure our labour shall not be in vain and that we cannot serve him at too dear a rate It is not as idle companions but as servants as souldiers as those that put forth all their strength to do his work and reach the Crown that we are called to walk with God And all this is done though not in the same degree by all yet according to the measure of their Holiness by every one that lives by faith Having told you what it is to Walk with God as to the Matter of it I shall more briefly tell you as to the Manner The nature of God of man and of the work will tell it you 1. That our walk with God must be with the greatest reverence were we never so much assured of his special love to us and never so full of faith and joy our reverence must be never the less for this Though Love cast out that guilty fear which discourageth the sinner from hoping and seeking for the mercy which would save him and which disposeth him to hate and fly from God yet doth it not cast out that Reverence of God which we owe him as his creatures so infinitely below him as we are It cannot be that God should be known and remembred as God without some admiring and awful apprehensions of him Infiniteness Omnipotency and inaccessible Majesty and Glory must needs affect the soul that knoweth them with reverence and selfe-abasement Though we receive a Kingdome that cannot be moved yet if we will serve God acceptably we must serve him with reverence and godly fear as knowing that as he is our God so he is also a consuming fire Heb. 12. 28 29. We must so worship him as those that remember that we are worms and guilty sinners and that he is most High and Holy and will be sanctified in them that come nigh him and before all the people he will be glorified Lev. 10. 3. Unreverence sheweth a kind of Atheistical contempt of God or else a sleepiness and inconsiderateness of the soul. The sense of the Goodness and Love of God must consist with the sense of his Holiness and Omnipotency It is presumption pride or blockish stupidity which excludeth Reverence which Faith doth cause and not oppose 2. Our walking with God must be a work of humble boldness and familiarity The Reverence of his Holiness and Greatness must not overcome or exclude the sense of his Goodness and compassion nor the full assurance of faith and hope Though by sin we are enemies and strange to God and stand a far off yet in Christ we are reconciled to him and brought near Eph. 2. 13. For he is our Peace who hath taken down the partition and abolished the enmity and reconciled Jew and Gentile unto God Ver. 14 15 16. And through him we have all an access to the Father by one spirit we are now no more strangers and forraigners but fellow-Citizens of the Saints and of the houshold of God ver 18 19. In him we have boldness and access with confidence by the belief of him Eph. 3. 12. Though of our selves we are unworthy to be called his children and may well stand a far off with the Publican and not dare to lift up our faces towards heaven but smite our breasts and say O Lord be merciful to me a sinner Yet have we boldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail that is to say his flesh And having an high Priest over the house of God we may draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith Heb. 10. 19 20 21 22. Therefore whensoever we are afraid at the sight of sin and Justice let us remember that we have a great high Priest that is passed into the heavens even Jesus the Son of God and therefore let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need Heb. 4. 14 15 16. He that alloweth us to walk with him doth allow us such humble familiarity as beseemeth those that walk together with him 3. Our walking with God must be a work of some holy pleasure and delight We may unwillingly be drag'd into the presence of an enemy and serve as drudges upon meer necessity or fear But walking together is the loving and delightful converse of friends When we take sweet counsel of the Lord and set him alwaies as at our right hand and are glad to hear from him and glad to speak to him and glad to withdraw our thoughts from all the things and persons in the world that we may solace our selves in the contemplations of his excellency and the admirations of his Love and Glory this is indeed to walk with God You converse with him as with a stranger an enemy or your destroyer and not as with God while you had rather be far from him and only tremble in his presence and are glad when you have done and are got away but have no delight or pleasure in him If we can take delight in our walking with a friend a friend that is truly loving and constant a friend that is learned wise and holy if their wise and heavenly discourse be better to us then our recreations meat or drink or clothes what delight then should we find in our secret converse with the most high most wise and gracious God! How glad should we be to find him willing and ready to entertain us How glad should we be that we may employ our thoughts on so high and excellent an object what cause have we to say My meditation of him shall be sweet and I will be glad in the Lord Ps. 104. 34. In the multitude of my thoughts within me my sorrowful troublesome weary thoughts thy comforts do delight my soul Ps. 94. 19. Let others take pleasure in childish vanity or sensuality but say thou as David Ps. 119. 14 15 16. I have rejoyced in the wayes of thy Commandements as much as in all riches I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto thy waies I will delight my self in thy statutes and will not forget thy Word Ver. 47. I will delight my self in thy commandements which I have loved Let scorners delight in scorning and fools hate knowledge Prov. 1. 22. but make me to go in the path of thy commandements for therein do I delight Psal. 119. 35. If thou wouldst experimentally know the safety and glory of a holy life delight thy self in the Lord and he shall give thee the desire of thy heart Ps. 37. 4. Especially when we draw near him in his solemn worship and when we separate our selves on his holy dayes from all our common worldly thoughts to be conversant as in
to leave the crowd and come home to God and try a more noble and gainful conversation If Reasons may have room and leave to work upon you I will set a few before you more distinctly to call you off from your barren inordinate creature converse to a believing serious converse with God 1. The higher and more excellent the object is especially when it is also of most concernment to our selves the more excellent is the converse Therefore as nothing dare compare it self with God so no employment may be compared with thâ—s of holy walking with him How vile a contempt is it of the Almighty and of our Celestial joyes for the heart to neglect them and turn away and dwell upon vanity and trouble and let these highest pleasures go Is not God and Glory worthy of thy thoughts and all thy service 2. What are those things that take thee up Are they better then God Or fitter to supply thy wants If thou think and trust in them accordingly ere long thou shalt know better what they are and have enough of thy cursed choice and confidence Tell those that stand by thee at the parting hour whether thou didst choose aright and make a gaining or a saving match O poor sinners have you not yet warning enough to satisfie you that all things below are Vanity and Vexation and that all your hope of happiness is above Will not the testimony of God satisfie you will not the experience of the world for so many thousand years together satisfie you will not the ill success of all the damned satisfie you will nothing but your own experience convince you If so consider well the experience you have already made and seasonably retire and try no further and trust not so dangerous a deceiver to the last least you buy your knowledge at a dearer rate then you will now believe 3. You have daily more to do with God than with all the world whether you will or no And therefore seeing you cannot avoid him if you would prefer that voluntary obediential converse which hath a reward before that necessitated converse which hath none You are alwaies in his hands he made you for his service and he will dispose of you and all that you have according to his will It shall not go with you as your selves would have it nor as your friends would have it nor as Princes and great ones of the world would have it unless as their wills comply with Gods but as God would have it who will infallibly accomplish all his will If a sparrow fall not to the ground without him and all the hairs of our heads are numbered then certainly he overruleth all your interests and affairs and they are absolutely at his dispose To whom then in reason should you so much apply your selves as unto him If you will not take notice of him he will take notice of you He will remember you whether you remember him or not but it may be with so strict and severe a remembrance as may make you wish he did quite forget you You are alwaies in his presence and can you then forget him and hold no voluntary converse with him when you stand before him If it be but mean inferiour persons that we dwell with and are still in company with yet we mind them more and speak more to them then we do to greater persons that we seldom see But in God there is both Greatness and Nearness to invite you Should not all the worms on earth stand by while the Glorious God doth call you to him and offer you the honour and happiness of his converse shall the Lord of Heaven and Earth stand by and be shut out while you are chatting or trifling with his creatures Nay shall he be neglected that is alwaies with you You cannot remove your selves a moment from his sight and therefore you should not shut your eyes and turn away your face and refuse to observe him who is still observing you Moreover your dependence both for soul and body is all on him You can have nothing desirable but by his gift He feeds you he cloatheth you he maintaineth you he gives you life and breath and all things and yet can you overlook him or forget him Do not all his mercies require your acknowledgement A Dog will follow him that feedeth him his eye will be upon his Master And shall we live upon God and yet forget and disregard him We are taught a better use of his Mercies by the Holy Prophet Psal. 66. 8 9. O bless our God ye people and make the voice of his praise to be heard which holdeth our soul in life and suffereth not our feet to be moved Nay it is not your selves alone but all the world that depends on God It is his power that supporteth them and his will that disposeth of them and his bounty that provideth for them And therefore he must be the observation and admiration of the world It is less unreasonable to take no notice of the Earth that beareth us and yieldeth us fruit and of the Sun that yields us heat and light than to disregard the Lord that is more to us than Sun and Earth and all things The eyes of all things wait on him and he giveth them their meat in season He openeth his hand and satisfieth the desire of every living thing Psal. 145. 15 16. The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works All his works therefore shall praise him and his Saints shall bless him They shall speak of the glory of his Kingdom and talk of his power vers 10 11. Moreover God is so abundantly and wonderfully represented to us in all his works as will leave us under the guilt of most unexcusable contempt if we overlook him and live as without him in the world The Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy work Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge Psa. 19. 1 2. Thus that which may be known of God is manifest for the invisible things of him from the Creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead so that the ungodly are without excuse Rom. 1. 19 20. Cannot you see that which all the world revealeth nor hear that which all the world proclaimeth O sing ye forth the honour of his name make his praise glorious Say to the Lord How terrible art thou in thy works through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee All the earth shall worship thee and shall sing unto thee they shall sing unto thy name come and see the works of God he is tertible in his doings towards the children of men Psal. 66. 2 3 4 5. Can we pass him by that is everywhere present and by every Creature represented to us Can we forget him when all the world are our
32. The Great the Mighty the terrible God Psal. 136. 4. To him therefore that alone doth Great wonders we must give the Greatest Praise O how Great are his works and his thoughts are very deep Psal. 92. 5. Great is our Lord and of Great Power Psal. 147. 5. And therefore in Zion must â—e be Great Psalm 99. 2. And his Great and terrible Name must be Praised 3. In the Church where he is known must his Name be Great Psal. 76. 1. For we know that the Lord is Great and our God is above all Gods Psal. 135. 5. His Saints delight to praise his Greatness Psal. 104. 1 2 3 4. Bless the Lord O my soul O Lord my God thou art very Great thou art cloathed with honour and Majesty who coverest thy self with Light as with a garment who stretchest out the Heavens like a Curtain who layeth the beams of his Chambers in the waters who maketh the clouds his Chariot who walketh upon the wings of the wind who maketh his Angels Spirits his Ministers a flame of fire c. From Almightiness all things have their being and therefore must honour the Almighty Rev. 1. 8. I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending saith the Lord which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty Rev. 15. 3. They that magnifie the Lord with the song of Moses and of the Lamb say Great and Marvellous are thy works O Lord God Almighty Just and True are thy wayes thou King of Saints 3. The Almightiness of God must imprint upon our souls a strong and stedfast confidence in him according to the tenour of his Covenant and promises Nothing more certain then that Impotency and Insufficiency will never cause him to fail us or to break his word O what an encouragement is it to the Saints that they are built on such an impregnable Rock and that Omnipotency is engaged for them And O what a shame is this to our unbelief that ever we should distrust omnipotency If God be Almighty 1. Remembe in thy greatest wants that there is no want but he can easily and abundantly supply 2. Remember in thy greatest sufferings pains or dangers that no pain is so great which he cannot mitigate and remove and no danger so great from which he is not able to deliver thee The servants of Christ dare venture on the flames because they trust upon the Almighty Dan. 3. 16 17 18. In confidence on Omnipotency they dare stand against the threatnings of the greatest upon earth We are not careful said those three Believers to the King to answer thee in this matter If it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us c. He that is afraid to stand upon a slender bow or upon the unstable waters is not afraid to stand upon the earth And he that is afraid of robbers when he is alone is bolder in a conquering Army what will man Trust if he distrust Omnipotency Where can we be safe if not in the Love the Covenant the hands of the Almighty God When storms and winds had feared the Disciples lest they should be drowned when Christ was in the ship their sin was aggravated by the presence of their Powerful Lord whose mighty works they had often seen Why fear ye saith he O ye of little faith Mat. 8. 26. Cannot he rebuke our winds and waves and will not all obey the rebukes of the Almighty when thou hast a want that God cannot supply or a sickness that he cannot cure or a danger that he cannot prevent then be thou Fearful and distrust him and spare not 3. Remember also in thy lowest state and in the Churches greatest sufferings or dangers that the Almighty is able to raise up his Church or thee even in a moment If you say that Its true God can do it but we know not whether he will I answer 1. I shall shew you in due place how far he hath revealed his Will for such deliverances In sum we have his promise that all things shall work together for our good Rom. 8. 28. and what would we have more Would you have that which is evil for you 2. At present see that Omnipotency do establish thy confidence so far as it is concerned in the cause As 1. Be sure that no work is too hard for the Almighty Do not so much as in the thoughts of thy heart make question of his Power and say with those unbelievers Psal. 78. 19 20. Can God furnish a Table in the wildernest Can he give Bread also Can he provide Flesh If really thou distrust not the Power of God believe then the most difficult or improbable things as well as the easiest and most probable if God reveal or promise them The Resurrection seemeth improbable to impotent man But God hath promised it And nothing is difficult to Omnipotency The calling of the Jews the ruine of the Turk the downfall of the Pope the unity of Christians do all seem to us unlikely things But all things to God are not only possible but easie He is at no more labour to make a world then to make a straw or make fly Whatsoever pleased the Lord that did he in heaven and earth in the sea and in the depths Psal. 135. 6. Dost thou think it improbable that ever all thy sins should be conquered and that ever thy soul should live with Christ among the holy Saints and Angels and that ever thy Body that must first be dust should shine as the stars in the firmament of God And why doth it seem to thee improbable Is it not as easie to God as to cause the earth to stand on nothing and the â—un to run its daily course If God had promised thee to live a day longer or any small and common things thou couldst then believe him And is it not as easie to him to advance thee to Everlasting Glory as â—o cause thee to live another hour or to keep a haire of thy head from perishing sin is too strong for thee to overcome but not for God Death is too strong for thee to conquerâ— but not for Christ. Heaven is too high for thee to reach by thy own strength but he that is there and prepared it for thee can take thee thither Trust God or trust nothing He that cannot Trust in him shall despair for ever for all other confidence will deceive him Psal. 9. 10. They that know his Name will put their Trust in him for the Lord hath not forsaken them that seek him All those that Trust in him shall Rejoyce and ever shout for joy because he defendeth them Psal. 5. 11. Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his Trust and respecteth not the Proud nor such as turn aside to lies Psal 40. 4. â— Who so putteth his Trust in the Lord shall be safe Prov. 29. 25 O what hath Almightiness done in the world and what for the Church and what for thee and yet
wilt thou distrust him O how great is the goodness that he hath laid up for them that fear him which he hath wrought for them that Trust in him before the sons of men Psal. 31. 19. The Lord redeemeth the souls of his servants and none of them that Trust in him shall be desolate Psla. 34. 22 Are thy straits too great thy work too hard Commit thy way unto the Lord Trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass Psal. 37. 5. In thy lowest state look up to the Almighty and say What time I am afaid I will Trust in thee In God have I put my Trust I will not fear what man can do unto me Psal. 56. 3 4. The Lord is my Rock and my fortress and my deliverer my God my strength in whom I will put my Trust my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high tower Psal. 18. 2. He is a buckler to all that Trust in him Some Trust in Chariots and some in Horses but we will remember the Name of the Lord our God Psal. 20. 7. Trust not in the Creature that is in vanity and infirmity There is not Almightiness in man or any Creature It is better therefore to Trust in the Lord then to put confidence in man It is better to Trust in the Lord then to put confidence in Princes Psal. 118. 7 8. what a working passage is that Jer. 17. 5 6 7. Thus saith the Lord Cursed be man that Trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm and whose heart departeth from the Lord For he shall be like the heath in the deserts and shall not see when good cometh Blessed is the man that Trusteth in the Lord whose Hope the Lord is For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters and that spreadeth out her roots by the river and shall not see when heat cometh 2. Trust also in God as one that is assured that no Enemy is too strong for the Almighty Alas what is an Army of Dust to Omnipotency If the Lord do but arise his Enemies will be scattered and they that hate him will flee before him as smoak is driven away and as wax melteth before the fire the wicked shall perish at the presence of the Lord Psal. 68. 1 2. while the Lord of Hosts is for us we need not fear if hosts come against us As worst they can but Kill our bodies And Greater is he that is in us then he that is in the world 1 Joh. 4. 4. Oh what a match have the miserable Enemies of the Church what a work do they undertake what a desperate attempt do they enterprise to strive against Heaven and overcome Omnipotency 3. Trust in the Lord as one that believeth that no Means or Instruments are too small or weak for Almightness successfully to use No matter who the Instrument be how mean and weak and despicable if it be but an Almighty hand that uses it A few poor fishermen and despised people shall pull down Satans Kingdom in the world and conquer the greatest and bring in the Nations to the faith if Omnipotency be with them 4. The Almightiness of God must fill our hearts with Courage and Resolueion in his Cause and make us go on with greatest alacrity in his work Though we must be Doves and Lambs for innocency and meekness yet must we be souldiers for valour and stability Shall we flag or shrink that have Omnipotency on our side who ever scorneth thee hateth thee threatneth thee imprisoneth thee is not the Almighty enough to set against them all for thy encouragement 5. The Almightiness of God must be the Comfort of all that have Interest in him O did the blind world but see him that is Omnipotent or know the strength that is engaged for the weakest Saint they would soon see which is the stronger side and which to cleave to for their security O Blessed people that have the Almighty on their side and engaged with them against their enemies and to do their works and answer their desires How can any of them perish when the Almighty is engaged for their salvation The Father is Greater then all and none shall take them out of his hands Joh. 10. 29. How glad would men be in the beginning of a war to know which side will prove the stronger that they may joyn with that Can the side that God is on be conquered If you are wise observe what cause is his and let that be yours It s hard to Kick against the Pricks Woe to those souls that the Almighty is against and that dash themselves on the Rock that they should build on CHAP. VIII 7. THe next Attribute that must work upon us is the Infinite Wisdom or Omniscience of God Psal. 147. 5. His understandig is Infinite And the Impressions that this should make upon our souls are these 1. Delight in Wisdom that you may in your places be like to God The New man is renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that Created him Col. 3. 10. If God be infinitely Wise those then are the most excellent that are the Wisest Ignorance is the souls blindness and the privation of the Image of God on the understanding Wisdom excelleth folly as far as light excelleth darkness Eccles. 2. 13. To desire as Adam did any of that Knowledge that God hath reserved to himself or is unnecessary for us is not indeed to be Wise in our desires Unnecessary Knowledge is but a trouble But to Know the Lord and his revealed Will and the way of life is the light and glory of our minds He that hath lost his eye sight hath lost his principal natural delight and is as out of the world while he is in it And the ignorant souls that are void of the heavenly Illumination must needs be void of the delights of Grace and though they live in the visible Church where the beauty of Holiness is the excellency of the Saints yet they do not see this beauty but are like the Infidels that are out of the Church while they are in it The Blind are in continual danger They know not where they set their feet And they know not when to be confident nor when to fear sometimes they are afraid where there is no cause because there may be cause for ought they know And sometime they are fearless at the very brink of death and little think of the evil that they are neer Why do our poor deluded people so boldly live in an unconverted state but because they Know not where they are Why do they so carelesly lie down and rise in an unsanctified condition unpardoned unready for death and judgement and under the condemnation of the Law but because they know not the misery or danger in which they stand Why do they go on so carelesly and wilfully in sin and despise the counsel of their Teachers and of the Lord and take a holy life as needless but because
Praises of the Lord. The Goodness of God should be a daily feast to a gracious soul and should continually feed our cheerful Praises as the spring or cistern fills the Pipes I know no sweeter work on earth nay I am sure there is no sweeter then for faithful sanctified souls rejoicingly to magnifie the Goodness of the Lord and joyn together in his cheerful Praises O Christians if you would tast the Joys of Saints and live like the redeemed of the Lord indeed be much in the exercise of this Heavenly work and with holy David make it your employment and say O how great is thy Goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee Psal. 31. 19. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord Psal. 33. 5. What then are the Heavens Thy Congregation hath dwelt therein thou O Lord hast prepared thy Goodness for the poor O that men would praise the Lord for his Goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men For he satisfyeth the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness Psal. 107. 8 9. The goodness of God endureth continually Psal. 52. 1. Truly God is good to Israel even to such as are of a clean heart Psal. 73. 1. O taste and see that the Lord is good blessed is the man that trusteth in him Psal. 34. 8. The Lord is good his mercy is Everlasting his truth endureth from generation to generation Psal. 100. 5 The Lord is good to all and his tender Mercies are over all his works Psal. 145. 9. O Praise the Lord for the Lord is good sing Praises to his name for it is pleasant Psal. 135. â— Call him as David My goodness and my fortress my high tower and my deliverer and my shield and he in whom I trust Psal. 144 2. Let men therefore speak of the glorious honour of his Majesty and of his wonderous works Let them abundantly utter the memory of his great goodness and sing of his Righteousness Psal. 145 5 7. If there be a thought that is truly sweet to the soul it is the Thought of the Infinite Goodness of the Lord. If there be a pleasant word for man to speak it is the mention of the Infinite goodness of the Lord And if there be a pleasant hour for man on earth to spend and a delightful work for man to do it is to meditate on and with the Saints to Praise the Infinite goodness of the Lord. What was the glory that God shewed unto Moses and the tast of Heaven that he gave him upon Earth but this I will make all my Goodness pass before thee and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee and I will be gracious on whom I will be gracious and will shew Mercy on whom I will shew Mercy Exod. 33. 19. And his proclaimed Name was The Lord the Lord God Merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth Exod. 34. 6. These were the holy Praiâ—es that Solomon did consecrate the Temple with 2 Chron. 6. 41. Arise O Lord God into thy resting place thou and the Ark of thy strength let thy Priests O Lord God be cloathed with salvation and let thy Saints rejoyce in Goodness See Isai. 63. O Christians if you would have joy indeed let this be your employment Draw neer to God and have no low undervaluing thoughts of his Infinite Goodness For How great is his Goodness and how great is his Beauty Zach. 9 17. Why is it that Divine Consolations are so strange to us but because Dive Goodnesâ— is so lightly thought upon As those that think little of God at all have little of God upon their hearts so they that think but little of his Goodness in particular have little Love or Joy or Praise 6. Moreover the Goodness of God must possess us with desire to be conformed to his goodness in our measure The Holy perfection of his Will must make us desire to have our Wills conformed to the will of God We are not called to Imitate him in his works of Power nor so much in the paths of his Omniscience as we are in his goodness which as manifested in his work and word is the Pattern and standard of Moral Goodness in the sons of men The Impress of his goodness within us is the chief part of his Image on us and the fruits of it in our Lives is their Holiness and Vertue As he is Good and doth Good Psal. 119. 68. so must it be our greatest care to be as good and do as much good as possibly we can Any thing within us that is sinful and contrary to the Goodness of God should be to our souls as griping poyson to our bodies which nature is excited to strive against with all its strength and can have no safety or rest till it be cast out And for Doing Good it must be the very study and trade of our lives As worldlings study and labour for the world and the Pleasing of their flesh so must the Christian study and labour to improve his masters talents to his use and to do as much good as he is able and to please the Lord. Prov. 11. 23. The desire of the Righteous as such is only Good To depart from evil and do good is the care of the just Psal. 34. 14. We must please our neighbours for Good to their Edification Rom. 15. 2. While we have time we must do good to all men as we are able but especially to them of the houshold of faith Gal. 6. 10 Not only to them that do good to us but to our enemies Luk. 6. 32 33 34. Mat. 5. 44. This is it that we must not forget Heb. 13. 16. and which by Ministers we must be â—ut in mind of 1 Tim. 6. 18. which all that love life and would inherit the blessing must devote themselves to 1 Pet. 3. 10 11 12. In this we must be like our heavenly Father and approve our selves his Children Mat. 5. 45 46. 7. From the perfect Infinite goodness of God we must learn to judge of Good and Evil and in all the Creatures To this must all be reduced as the standard and by this must they be tryed It is a most wretched absurdity of sensual men to try the will or word or wayes of God by themselves and by their own interests or wills and to judge all to be Evil in God that is against them And yet alas how common is this case Every man is naturally â—oth to be miserable suffering he abhors and therefore that which causeth his suffering he calleth evil And so when he hath deserved it himself by his sin he thinks that the Law is Evil for threatning it and that God himself is Evil for inflicting it so that Infinite Goodness must be tryed and judged by the vicious creature and the Rule and standard must be reduced to the crooked line of humane actions or dispositions and if God will please
feel though they are such as were sanctified never so early before actual sin had time to breed those evil habits which therefore certainly were born with us And if the Image of God consisting in true holiness be not natural or born in every Infant in the world then Original sin must needs be born with them for that sin is either only or chiefly the Privation of that Image or Holiness He that will say that this Image is not requisite to Infants and so that the absence of it is a meer negation doth make them bruits and not of the race of man whom God created after his Image and leaves them uncapable of Heaven or Hell or any other life then beasts have And he that thinks so of Infants to day may think so of himself to morrow And he that will affirm that this Image or Holiness is born with every Infant into the world so wilfully contradicteth common evidence which appeareth in the contrary effects that he is not worthy to be further talkt with One thing more I will propound yet to the contrary-minded Can they say that any Infants are saved or not If not either they perish as bruits which is a bruitish opinion or they live in misery and then they had sin that did deserve it yea if they think that any of them perish in the wrath to come it must be for sin If they think that any of them are saved it is either by covenant or without there is some promise for it or there is none If none then no man can say that any of them are saved For who hath known the mind of the Lord without his Revelation It is arrogancy to tell the world of the saving of any that God did no way reveal that he will save But if they plead a Revelation or promise it is either the Covenant of Nature or of Grace a promise contained in Nature Law or Gospel The former cannot be affirmed not only because the dissenters themselves deny any such Covenant to have been in nature or any way made to Adam but because there is no such Covenant or promise in Nature to be found for the Salvation of all Infants and if not for all then for none and because it is contrary to abundance of plain passages in the Scriptures that assure us there is but One Covenant of Salvation now in force and that all the world shall become guilty before God and every mouth be stopped Rom. 3. 19. and that by the deeds of the Law no flesh shall be justified in his sight v. 20. Gal. 2. 16. And if righteousness come by the Law then Christ is dead in vain Gal. 2. 21. For as many as are of the works of the Law are under the Curse Gal. 3. 10. And that no man is Justified by the Law in the sight of God is evident for the just shall live by faith and the Law is not of faith but The man that doth them shall live in them And certainly the Law of nature requireth not less then Moses Law to a mans justification if not more And if there had been a Law given which could have given life verily Righteousness should have been by the Law But the Scripture hath concluded All under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that belive Gal. 3. 21 22. By the fulness of this evidence it is easie to see that Infants and all mankind are sinners and therefore have need of the Redeemer 2. To know God as our Redeemer containeth the knowledge of the great ends of our Redemption and of the manifestation of God to man thereby Having treated of these in the Book forecited I shall now say but this in brief It is beyond dispute that God could have made man capable of Glory and kept him from falling by confirming grace and without a Redeemer setled him in felicity as he did the Angels He that foresaw mans fall and necessity of a Saviour could easily have prevented that sin and necessity But he would not he did not but chose rather to permit it and save man by the way of a Redeemer In which his Infinite wisdom is exceedingly manifested And in Christ who is the Power and Wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1. 24. among others these excellent effects are declared to us which the way of Redemption attaineth above what the saving us on the terms of Nature would have attained 1. God is now wonderfully admired and magnified in the person of the Redeemer Angels themselves desire to pry into this mysterie 1 Pet. 1. 12. As the frame of Nature is set us to see God in where we daily as in a glass behold him and admire him so the person of the Redeemer and work of Incarnation and Redemption is set the Angels for their contemplation and admiration as well as us Eph. 3. 10. To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God And in the glorious perfection and dignity of the Redeemer will God be everlastingly glorified For his greatest works do greatliest honour him And as the sun doth now to us more honour him then a star so the glorified person of the Redeemer doth more honour God then man or Angels 1 Pet. 3. 23. He is gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God Angels and Authorities and Powers being made subject to him Eph. 1. 20 21 22. Being raised from the dead God hath set him at his own right hand in heavenly places far above all principalities and powers and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the Head over all things to the Church which is his Body the fulness of him that filleth all in all Heb. 1. 3. Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high being made so much better then the Angels as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name then they And here a very great truth appeareth which very many overlook that the exaltation of the person of the Redeemer and the glory that God will have in him is a higher and more principal part of Gods intent in the sending of him to be Incarnate and Redeem us then the glorifying of man and of God by us Christ will be more glorious then men or Angels and therefore will more glorifie God and God will eternally take more complacency in him then in men or Angels And therefore though in several respects He is for us and the means of our felicity and we are for him and the means of his glory as the Head is for the Body and the Body
it is a more sweet and excellent state of life to be the Spouse of Christ and his members and serve God as friends and children with Love and Thankfulness then to serve him meerly as the most loyal subjects or with an obedience that hath less of Love 9. In the way of Redemption Holiness is more admirably exemplified in Christ then it was or would have been in Adam Adam would never have declared it in that eminency of Charity to others submission to God contempt of the world self-denyal and conquest of Satan as Christ hath done 10. And in the way of Redemption there is a double obligation laid upon man for every duty To the obligations of Creation all the obligations of Redemption and the new Creation are superadded And this threefold cord should not so easily be broken Here are moral means more powerfully to hold the soul to God 11. And in this way there is a clearer discovery of the everlasting state of man and life and immortality are more fully brought to light by the Gospel 2 Tim. 1. 10 then for ought we find in Scripture they were to innocent man himself No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son that is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him Joh. 1. 18. For no man hath ascended up into heaven but he that came down from heaven even the son of man which is in heaven Joh 3. 13. 12. Man will be advanced to the judging of the ungodly and of the conquered Angels even by the good will of the Father and a participation in the honour of Christ our head and by a participation in his Victories and by our own Victories in his strength by the right of Conquest we shall judge with Christ both Devils and men that were enemies to him and our salvation as you may see 1 Cor. 6. 2 3. And there is more in that promise then we yet well understand Rev. 2. 26 27. He that overcometh and keepeth my words unto the end to him will I give power over the Nations and he shall rule them with a rod of Iron as the vessels of a Potter shall they be broken to shivers even as I received of my Father 13. And that which Augustine so much insisteth on I think is also plain in Scripture that the Salvation of the Elect is better secured in the hands of Christ then his own or any of his posterities was in the hands of Adam We know that Adam lost that which was committed to him But we know whom we have believed and are perswaded that he is able to keep that which we commit to him against that day 1 Tim. 1. 12. Force not these Scriptures against our own Consolation and the glory of our Redeemer and then judge Joh. 7. 2. As thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him Joh. 6. 3. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out Ver. 39. And this is the Fathers will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day Joh. 10. 26 27 28 29. But yee believe not because yee are not of my sheep as I said unto you My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish and none shall take them out of my hands My Father which gave them me is greater then all and no man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hands Eph. 1. 3 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in Love Having predestinated us to the adoption of his children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved Being predestinated according to the purpose of him that worketh all things after the counsel of his own will Ver. 11. And if Faith and Repentance and the right disposition of the will it self be his resolved gift to his Elect and not things left meerly to our uncertain wills then the case is past all question 2 Tim. 2. 25 26. In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them Repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and that they may recover themselves our of the snare of the Devil Eph. 2. 8. By grace yee are saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God Gal. 5. 22. The fruit of the spirit is Love Faith Phil. 1. 29. To you it is given on the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him Act. 13. 48. As many as were ordained to eternal life believed Jer. 24. 7. And I will give them an heart to know me that I am the Lord and they shall be my people and I will be their God for they shall return unto me with their whole heart Ezek. 11. 19 20. And I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within you and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and will give them an heart of flesh that they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and do them and they shall be my people and I will be their God Ezek. 36. 26 27. A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you an heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes See also Heb. 8. 6 7 8 9 10. where this is called the new and better Covenant I will put my Laws in their minds and write them in their hearts Jer. 31. 33. And Jer. 32. 39 40. And I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me for ever And I will make an everlasting Covenant with them and I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me 1 Cor. 4. 7. Who makes thee to differ and what hast thou that thou didst not receive Much more may be produced from which it is evident that Christ is the Author and finisher of our Faith and that the certainty of the salvation of his Elect doth lie more on his undertaking and resolution infallibly to accomplish their salvation then upon our wisdom or the stability of our mutable free-wills and that thus we are better in the hands of the second Adam then we were in the hands of the first
say this much here 5. The Truth of God must teach us to hate every Motion to Unbelief in our selves and others It is a hainons sin to give God the Lye though he speak to us but by his messengers Every honest man so far as he is honest is to be believed and is God less true A graceless Gallant will challenge you the field for the dishonour if you give him the Lye If you deny Gods Veracity you do not only equal him with the worst of men but with the Devil who was a Lyer from the beginning Yea you make him uncapable of being the Governour of the world or suppose him to Govern it by Deceits and Lyes Abhor therefore the first motions of Unbelief It makes men somewhat worse than Devils for the Devils know that God cannot lye and therefore they believe and tremble Unbelief of the Truth of the Word of God is the curse of the soul the enemy and bane of all Grace and Religion so far as it prevaileth Let it be the principal care and labour of your souls to settle the foundation of your Faith aright and to discern the Evidence of Divine Authority in the holy Scriptures and to extirpate the remnants of Infidelity in your hearts 6. Let the Truth and Faithfulness of God engage you to be True and Faithful to him and to each other You have promised him to be his servants be faithful in your promises You are in Covenant with him break not your Covenant Many a particular promise of Reformation you have made to God Prove not false to him that is True to you Be as good as your word to all men that you have to do with Abhor a Lye as the off-spring of the Devil who is the father of it Remember you serve a God of Truth and that it is the Rectitude and Glory of his servants to be conformable to him They say the Turks are offended at Christianity because of the lyes and falshood of Christians But sure they were but nominal Christians and no true Christians that ever they found such And its pitty that Christianity should be judged of through the world by the lives of them that never were Christians but from the teeth outward and the skin that was washt in Baptism They that will lye to God and covenant to be his holy Servants when they hate his holy service will lye to man when their commodity requireth it When they seem to Repent and honour him with their tongues They flatter him with their mouth and lye to him with their tongues for their heart is not right with him neither are they stedfast in his Covenant Psal. 78. 34 35 36 37. God saith Levit. 19. 11. Ye shall not steal nor deal fasly nor lye one to another A Righteous man hateth lying Prov. 13. 5. The lying tongue is but for a moment Prov. 12. 19. For God hateth it and it is an abomination to him Prov. 16. 16 17. The lovers and makers of lyes are shut out of the Kingdom of Christ Rev. 22. 15. But above all false Teachers that preach and prophesie lyes and deceive the Rulers and people of the Earth are abominable to God See Jer. 27. 10 14 15 16. 14. 14. 23. 25 26 32. Ezek. 13. 9 12. Isa. 54. 13. When Ahab was to be destroyed a lying spirit in the mouth of his Prophets deceived him And if a Ruler hearken to lyes all his servants are wicked Prov. 29. 2. 7. Above all false witness and perjury should be most odious to the servants of the God of Truth Prov. 19. 9. A false witness shall not be unpunished and he that speaketh lyes shall perish Eccles. 5. 4 5. When thou vowest a vow to God defer not to pay it Saith David Thy Vows are upon mee O God Psal. 56. 12. And unto thee shall the Vow be performed Psal. 65. 1. Perjury is a sin that seldome scapeth vengeance even in this life The instances of Saul the first and Zedekiah the last of the Kings of Judah before their desolation are both very terrible Sauls posterity must be hanged to stay the Famine that came upon the people for his breaking a Vow that was made by Joshua and not by him though he did it in zeal for Israel 2 Sam. 21. Zedekiah's case you may see 2 Chron. 26. Ezek. 17. He that sweareth appealeth to God as the searcher of hearts and avenger of perjury The perjured person chooseth the vengeance of God He is unfit till he repent to be a member of any civil society For he dissolveth the bond of all societies He cannot well be supposed to make conscience of any sin or villany in the world against God his Country his King his Friend or Neighbour that makes no conscience of an oath It is not easie to name a greater wickedness out of Hell than to approve of perjury by Laws or Doctrine And whether the Church of Rome do so or not I only desire them to consider that have read the third Canon of the Council at Lateran under P. Innocent the third where an Approved General Council decreeth that the Pope discharge vassals from their allegiance or fidelity to those Temporal Lords that exterminate not Hereticks as they call them out of their dominions What shall restrain men from killing Kings or any villany if once the bond of oatht be nullified But Scripture saith Keep the Kings Commandment and that in regard of the Oath of God Eccles. 8 2. No man defendeth Perjury by name But to say that men that swear to do that which God commandeth or forbids not are not bound to keep that oath or that the Pope may absolve men or disoblige them that swore fidelity to Temporal Lords when once the Pope hath excommunicated them doth seem to mee of the same importance CHAP. XX. 19. THE next Attribute to be spoke of is his Mercifulness and his Long-suffering Patience which we may set together This is implied in his Goodness and the Relation of a Father before expressed Mercy is Gods Goodness inclining him to prevent or remove his creatures Misery It is not only the Miserable that are the object of it but also those that may be miserable it being as truly Mercy to keep us out of it foreseen as to deliver us out of it when we are in it Hence it is that he taketh not Pleasure in the death of the wicked but rather that he turn and Live And hence it is that he Afflicts not willingly nor grieves the children of men Lam. 3. 33. Not that his Mercy engageth him to do all that he can do for the salvation of every sinner or absolutely to prevent or heal his misery But it is his Attribute chiefly considered as Governour of the Rational Creature and so his Mercy is so great to all that he will destroy none but for their wilful sin and shut none among us out of Heaven but those that were guilty of contemning it God doth not
right his kindness and sollicitations of you and you have so little to say for any pretence of right or merit in the creature Why are not men ashamed of the greatest dishonesty against God when all that have any humanity left them do take adultery theft and other dishonesty against creatures for a shame The time will come when God and his interest shall be better understood that this dishonesty against Him will be the matter of the most confounding shame that ever did or could befall men Prevent this by the juster exercise of your thoughts and keeping them pure and chast to God 10. If God be not in your thoughts and the chiefest in them there will be no matter in them of solid comfort or content Trouble and deceit will be all their work when they have fled about the earth and taken a tast of every flower they will come loaden home with nothing better then Vanity and Vexation Such thoughts may excite the laughter of a fool and cause that mirth that is called madness Eccles. 7. 4 6. and 2. 2. But they will never conduce to setled Peace and durable content And therefore they are alwaies repented of themselves and are troublesome to our review as being the shame of the sinner which he would fain be cleared of or disown Though you may approach the creature with passionate fondness and the most delightful promises and hopes be sure of it you will come off at last with grief and disappointment if not with the loathing of that which you chose for your delight Your thoughts are in a wilderness among thorns and bryars when God is not in them as their guide and end They are lost and torn among the creatures but rest and satisfaction they will find none It may be at the present it is pleasanter to you to think of recreation or business or worldly wealth then to think of God But the pleasure of these thoughts is as delusory and short-lived as are the things themselves on which you think How long will you think with pleasure on such fading transitory things And the pleasure cannot be great at the present which reacheth but the flesh and fantasie and which the possessed knoweth will be but short Nay you will shortly find by sad experience that of all the creatures under heaven there will none be so bitter to your thoughts as those which you now find greatest carnal sweetness in O how bitter will the thought of idolized honour and abused wealth and greatness be to a dying or a damned Dives The thoughts of that Alehouse or Playhouse where thou hadst thy greatest pleasure will trouble thee more then the thoughts of all the houses in the town besides The thoughts of that one woman with whom thou didst commit thy pleasant sin will wound and vex thee more then the thoughts of all the women in the town besides The thoughts of that beloved sport which thou couldst not be weaned from will be more troublesome to thee then the thoughts of a thousand other things in which thou hadst no inordinate delight For the end of sinful mirth is sorrow when Solomon had tryed to please himself to the full in mirth in buildings vineyards woods waters in servants and possessions silver and gold and cattel and singers and instruments of musick of all sorts in greatness and all that the eye or appetite or heart desired he findeth when he awaked from this pleasant dream that he had all this while been taken up with Vanity and Vexation in so much that he saith on the review Therefore I hated life because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous to me for all is vanity and vexation of spirit Yea I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun Eccles. 2. 1 2 3 c. 17. 18. You may toil out and tire your selves among these bryars in this barren wilderness but if ever you would feel any solid ground of quietness and rest it must be by coming off from vanity and seeking your felicity in God and living sincerely for Him and upon Him as the worldling doth upon the world His pardoning mercy must begin your Peace forgiving you your former thoughts and â—is healing quickening mercy must increase it by teaching you better to employ your thoughts and drawing up your hearts â—nto himself and his glorifying mercy must perfect it by giving you the full intuition and fruition of himself in heaven and employing you in his perfect Love and Praise not leaving any room for creatures nor suffering a thought to be employed on vanity for ever CHAP. IV. BY this time I hope you may see reason to call your selves to a strict account what converse you have been taken up with in the world and upon what you have exercised your thoughts surely you must needs be conscious that the thoughts which have been denyed God have brought you home but little satisfaction and have not answered the ends of your creation redemption or preservation and that they are now much fitter matter for your penitential tears then for your comfort in the review I do not think you dare own and stand to those thoughts which have been spent for fleshly pleasures or in unnecessary worldly cares or that were wasted in impertinent vagaries upon any thing or nothing when you should have been seeking God! I do not think you have now any great pleasure in the review of those thoughts which once were taken up with pleasure when your most pleasant thoughts should have been of God Dare you approve of your rejecting your Creatour and the great concernments of your soul out of your thoughts and wasting them upon things unprofitable and vain Did not God and Heaven deserve more of your serious thoughts then any thing else that ever they were employed on Have you laid them out on any thing that more concerned you or on any thing more excellent more honourable more durable or that could claim precedency upon any just account Did you not shut heaven it self out of your thoughts when you shut out God And is it not just that God and Heaven should shut out you If Heaven be not the principal matter of your thoughts its plain that you do not principally love it And if so judge you whether those that Love it not are fit to be made possessors of it O poor distracted senseless world Is not God Great enough to command and take up your chiefest cogitations Is not Heaven enough to find them work and afford them satisfaction and delight And yet is the dung and dotage of the world enough Is your honour and wealth and fleshly delights aed sports enough God will shortly make you know whether this were wise and equal dealing Is God so low so little so undeserving to be so oft and easily forgotten and so hardly and so sleightly remembred I tell you ere long he will make you think of him to your sorrow whether you will or
sensuality but in the way of holy obedience and of believing contemplations of the Divine everlasting objects of delight For lo they that are far from him shall perish he destroyeth them that go a whoring from him but it is good for us to draw nigh to God Psal. 73. 27 28. III. VVAlking with God is the only course that can prove and make men truly wise It proves them wise that make so wise and good a choice and are disposed and skilled in any measure for so high a work Practical Wisdome is the solid useful profitable wisdome And Practical Wisdome is seen in our Choice of Good and Refusal of Evil as its most immediate and excellent effect And no Choosing or Refusing doth shew the Wisdome or Folly of man so much as that which is about the Greatest matters and which everlasting life or death depends on He is not thought so wise among men that can write a Volume about the Orthography or Etymology of a word or that can guess what wood the Trojane Horse was made of or that can make a chain to tye a Flea in as he that can bring home Gold and Pearls or he that can obtain and manage Governments or he that can cure mortal maladies For as in lading we difference Bulk and Value and take not that for the best commodity which is of greatest quantity or weight but that which in most precious and of greatest use so there is a bulky knowledge extended far to a multitude of words and things which are all of no great use or value and therefore the Knowledge of them is such as they And there is a precious sort of Knowledge which fixeth upon the most precious things which being of greatest Use and Value do accordingly prove the Knowledge such Nothing will prove a man simply and properly wise but that which will prove or make him Happy He is wise indeed that is wise to his own and others good And that is indeed his Good which saveth his soul and maketh him for ever blessed Though we may admire the Cunning of those that can make the most curious engines or by deceiving others advance themselves or that can subtilly dispute the most curious niceties or criticize upon the words of several languages yet I will never call them Wise that are all that while the Devils slaves the enemies of God the refusers of Grace and are making haste to endless misery And I think there is not one of those in Hell who were once the subtile men on earth that now take themselves to have been truly wise or glory much in the remembrance of such Wisdome And as this Choice doth prove men wise so the practice of this Holy walking with God doth make them much wiser than they were As there must be some work of the Spirit to draw men to believe in Christ and yet the Spirit is promised and given in a special sort or measure to them that do Believe so must there be some special Wisdome to make men Choose to walk with God but much more is given to them in this holy course As Solomon was wiser than most of the world before he asked wisdome of God or else he would not have made so wise a Choice and preferred wisdome before the riches and honours of the world And yet it was a more notable Degree of wisdome that was afterwards given him in answer to his prayer so it is in this case There are many undenyable Evidences to prove that walking with God doth do more to make men truly wise than all other learning or policy in the world 1. He that walketh with God doth begin aright and settle upon a sure foundation And we use to say that a work is half finished that is well begun He hath engaged himself to the best and wisest Teacher He is a Disciple to Him that knoweth all things He hath taken in infallible principles and taken them in their proper place and order He hath learnt those Truths which will every one become a Teacher to him and help him to that which is yet unlearnt Whereas many that thought they were Doctors in Israel if ever they they will be wise and happy must become fools that is such as they have esteemed fools if ever they will be wise 1 Cor. 3. 18. and must be called back with Nicodemus to learn Christs Cross and to be taught that that which is born of the flesh is but flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit and that therefore they must be born again not only of water but also of the spirit if ever they will enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Joh. 3. 3 5 6. O miserable beginning and miserable progress when men that never soundly learnt the mysteries of Regeneration and Faith and Love and Self-denyal and Mortification do proceed to study names and words and to turn over a multitude of Books to fill their brains with airy notions and their Common-places with such sayings as may be provision and furniture for their pride and ostentation and ornament to their style and language and know not yet what they must do to be saved and indeed know nothing as they ought to know 1 Cor. 8. 2. As every Science hath its principles which are supposed in all the consequential verities so hath Religion as Doctrinal and Practical those Truths which must be first received before any other can be received as it ought and those things which must be first done before any other can be done so as to attain their ends And these Truths and Duties are principally about God himself and are known and done effectually by those and only those that walk with God or are devoted to him It is a lamentable thing to see men immerst in serious studies even till they grow aged and to hear them seriously disputing and discoursing about the controversies or difficulties in Theology or inferiour Sciences before ever they had any saving knowledge of God or of the work of the Holy Ghost in the converting and sanctifying of the soul or how to escape everlasting misery 2. He that walketh with God hath fixed upon a right end and is renewing his estimation and intention of it and daily prosecuting it And this is the first and greatest part of Practical Wisdome When a man once knoweth his End aright he may the better judge of the aptitude and seasonableness of all the means When we know once that Heaven containeth the only felicity of man it will direct us to Heavenly cogitations and to such spiritual means as are fitted to that End If we have the right mark in our eye we are liker to level at it than if we mistake our mark He is the wise man and only he that hath steadily fixed his eye upon that blessedness which he was created and redeemed for and maketh strait towards it and bends the powers of soul and body by faithful constant diligence to obtain it He
make him sin against his knowledge And when Conscience hath frighted him into some kind of Penitence and made him cry out I have sinned and done foolishly and caused him to promise to do so no more yet doth the Devil prevail with him to go on and to break his promises as if he had never been convinced of his sins or confessed them or seen any reason or necessity to amend He doth but imprison the truth in unrighteousness and bury it in a senseless heart whereas if you could but awaken all the powers of his soul to give this same truth its due entertainment and take it deeper into his heart it would make him even scorn the baits of sin and see that the ungodly are beside themselves and make him presently resolve and set upon a holy life And hence it is that sickness which causeth men to receive the sentence of death doth usually make men bewail their former sinful lives and marvail that they could be before so sottish as to resist such known and weighty truths and it makes them purpose and promise reformation and wish themselves in the case of those that they were wont before to deride and scorn Because now the Truth is deeplier received and digested by their awakened souls and appeareth in its proper evidence and strength There is no man but must acknowledge that the same truth doth at one time command his soul which at another time seems of little force It is a wonder to observe how differently the same consideration worketh with a man when he is awakened and when he is in a secure stupid case Now this is his advantage that walks with God He is much more frequently then others awakened to a serious apprehension of the things which he understandeth The thoughts of the presence of the most Holy God will not suffer him to be as secure and senseless as others are or as he is himself when he turneth aside from this Heavenly conversation He hath in God such exceeding transcendent excellencies such Greatness such Goodness continually to behold that it keepeth his soul in a much more serious lively state than any other means could keep it in so that when ever any truth or duty is presented to him all his saculties are awake and ready to observe it and improve it A Sermon or a good book or godly conference or a mercy when a man hath been with God in prayer or contemplation will relish better with him and sink much deeper then at another time Nay one serious thought of God himself will do more to make a man truly and solidly wise then all the reading and learning in the world which shuts him out 6. Walking with God doth fix the mind and keep it from diversions and vagaries and consequently much helpeth to make men wise A stragling mind is empty and unfurnished He that hath no dwelling for the most part hath no wealth Wandering is the beggars life Men do but bewilder and lose themselves and not grow wise whose thoughts are ranging in the corners of the earth and are like masterlesse dogs that run up and down according to their fansie and may go any whether but have business nowhere The creature will not fix the soul But God is the center of all our cogitations In him only they may unite and fix and rest He is the only loadstone that can effectually attract and hold it steadfast to himself Therefore he that walks with God is the most constant and unmoveable of men Let prosperity or adversity come let the world be turned upside-down and the mountains be hurled into the sea yet he changeth not Let men allure or threat let them scorn or rage let laws and customs and governments and interest change he is still the same For he knoweth that God is still the same and that his Word changeth not Let that be death one year which was the way to reputation another and let the giddy world turn about as the seasons of the year this changeth not his mind and life though in things lawful he is of a yeilding temper For he knoweth that the interest of his soul doth not change with the humours or interests of men He still feareth sinning for he knoweth that Judgement is still drawing on in all changes and seasons whatsoever He is still set upon the pleasing of the most Holy God whoever be uppermost among men as knowing that the God whom he serveth is able to deliver him from man but man is not able to deliver him from God He still goeth on in the Holy path as knowing that Heaven is as sure and as desirable as ever it was Psal. 112. 6 7. Surely he shall not be moved for ever the Righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance He shall not be afraid of evil tydings His heart is fixed trusting in the Lord His heart is established he shall not be afraid 7. He that walketh with God hath the great master-truths upon his heart which are the standard of the rest and the stock as it were out of which they spring The great truths about God and Grace and Glory have a greater power then many hundred truths of an inferiour nature And moreover such a one is sure that he shall be wise in the greatest and most necessary points He is guilty of no ignorance or errour that shall keep him out of heaven or hinder his acceptance with his God And if he be wise enough to please God and to be saved he is wise indeed as before was â—inted 8. Walking with God doth take off the vizar of deluding things and keepeth us out of the reach and power of those objects and arguments which are the instruments of deceit When a man hath been believingly and seriously with God how easily can he see through the sophistry of the tempting world How easily can he practically consute the reasonings of the flesh and discern the dotage of the seeming subtilties of wicked men that will needs think they have reason for that which is displeasing to their Maker and tends to the damning of their souls so far as a man is conversant with God so far he is sensible that all things are nothing which can be offered as a price to hire him to sin and that the name of preferment and honour and wealth or of disgrace and imprisonment and death are words almost of no signification as to the tempters ends to draw the soul from God and duty It is men that know not God and know not what it is to walk with him that think these words so big and powerful to whom wealth and honour signifie more then God and Heaven and poverty disgrace and death do signifie more then Gods displeasure and everlasting punishment in hell As it is easie to cheat a man that is far from the light so is it easie to deceive the learnedst man that is far from God 9. Walking with God doth greatly help us against the deceitfulness
Satan can never come in so ill a time with his temptations and have so little hope to speed as when the soul is contemplating the attributes of God or taken up in prayer with him or any way apprehensive of his presence The soul that faithfully walks with God hath enough at hand in him to answer all temptations And the further any man is from God and the less he knoweth him the more Temptations can do upon him 3. The presence of God affordeth the most powerful motives unto Good to those that walk with him There is no grace in man but what is from God and may find in God its proper object or incentive As God is God above the creature transcendently and infinitely in all perfections so all the motives to goodness which are fetcht from him are transcendently above all that may be fetcht from any creature He that liveth alwaies by the fire or in the Sun-shine is likest to be warm He that is most with God will be most like to God in Holiness Frequent and serious converse with him doth most deeply imprint his communicable attributes on the heart and make there the clearest impression of his image Believers have learned by their own experience that one hours serious prayer or meditation in which they can get nigh to God in the Spirit doth more advance their grace then any help that the creature can afford them 4. Moreover those that walk with God have not only a Powerful but an universal incentive for the actuating and increasing of every grace Knowledge and faith and fear and love and trust and hope and obedience and zeal and all have in God their proper objects and incentives One Creature may be useful to us in one thing and another in another thing but God is the most effectual mover of all his graces and that in a holy harmony and order Indeed he hath no greater Motive to draw us to Love him and Fear him and Trust him and Obey him than himself It is life eternal to know him in his Son Joh. 17. 3. And that is not only because it entitleth us to life eternal but also because it is the beginning and incentive of that life of holiness which will be eternal 5. Moreover those that walk with God have a constant as well as a Powerful and Universal incentive to exercise and encrease their Graces Othet helps may be out of the way Their Preachers may be silenced or removed Their Friends may be scattered or taken from them Their Books may be forbidden or not at hand But God is alwaies ready and willing They have leave at all times to come to him and be welcome Whenever they are willing they may go to him by prayer or contemplation and find all in him which they can desire If they want not Hearts they shall find no want of any thing in God At what time soever fear would torment them they may draw near and put their trust in him Psal. 56. 2 3 4. 11. 1. 18. 2 30. 31. 1 6. He will be a sure and speedy refuge for them a very present help in trouble Psal. 46. 1. 62. 7 8. 91. 2 9 94. 22. Whenever coldness or lukewarmness would extinguish the work of Grace they may go to him and find those streams of flaming Love flow from him those strong attractives those wonderful mercies those terrible judgements of which while they are musing the fire may again wax hot within them Psal. 39. 3. 6. Lastly by way of encouraging reward God useth to give abundantly of his Grace to those that walk most faithfully with him He will shew most Love to those that most love him He will be nearest to them that most desirously draw nigh to him while he forsaketh those that forsake him and turneth away from those that turn away from him 2 Chro. 15. 2. Prov. 1. 32. Ezr. 8. 22. The hand of our God is for good upon all them that seek him but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him Thus it is apparent in all those evidences that walking with God is not only a discovery of the Goodness that men have but the only way to encrease their Grace and make them better O what a sweet humility and seriousness and spirituality appeareth in the conference or conversation or both of those that newly come from a believing close converse with God! When they that come from men and Books may have but a common mind or life And those that come from the business and pleasure of the world and flesh and from the company of foolish riotous gallants may come defiled as the Swine out of the mire V. LAstly to walk with God is the best preparation for times of suffering and for the day of death As we must be judged according to what we have done in the body so the nearer we find our selves to judgement the more we shall be constrained to judge our selves according to what we have done and shall the more perceive the effects upon our souls That this is so excellent a preparative for sufferings and death will appear by the consideration of these particulars 1. They that walk with God are safest from all destructive sufferings and shall have none but what are sanctified to their good Rom. 8. 28. They are near to God where destruction cometh not as the Chicken under the wings of the Hen. They walk with him that will not lead them to perdition that will not neglect them nor sell them for nought nor expose them to the will of men and devils though he may suffer them to be tryed for their good No one can take them out of his hands Be near to him and you are safe The destroyer cannot fetch you thence He can fetch you when the time is come from the side of your merriest companions and dearest friends from the presence of the greatest Princes from the strongest Tower or most sumptuous Pallace or from your heaps of riches in your securest health But he cannot take you from the arms of Christ nor from under the wings of your Creatours love For there is no God like him in Heaven above or on the earth beneath who keepeth Covenant and Mercy with his servants that walk before him with all their heart 1 King 8 23. 1 King 11. 38. However we are used in our Fathers presence we are sure it shall be for good in the latter end For he wanteth neither Power nor Love to deliver us if he saw deliverance to be best 2. Walking with God is the surest way to obtain a certainty of his special love and of our salvation And what an excellent preparative for sufferings or death such assurance is I need not tell any considerate beleever How easie may it be to us to suffer poverty disgrace or wrongs or the pains of sickness or death when once we are certain that we shall not suffer the pains of
Hell How chearfully may we go out of this troublesome world and leave the greatest prosperity behind us when we are sure to live in Heaven for ever Even an Infidel will say that he could suffer or dye if he could but be certain to be Glorified in Heaven when he is dead 3. Walking with God doth mortifie the flesh and allay the affections and lusts thereof The soul that is taken up with higher matters and daily seeth things more excellent becometh as dead to the things below And thus it weaneth us from all that is in the world which seemeth most desirable to carnal men And when the flesh is mortified and the world is nothing to us or but as a dead and loathsome carkass what is there left to be very troublesome in any suffering from the world or to make us loth by death to leave it It is men that know not God that overvalue the profits and honours of the world and men that never felt the comforts of Communion with God that set too much by the pleasures of the flesh And it is men that set too much by these that make so great a matter of suffering It is he that basely overvalueth wealth that whineth and repineth when he comes to poverty It is he that set too much by his honour and being befooled by his pride doth greatly esteem the thoughts or applauding words of men that swelleth against those that disesteem him and breaketh his heart when he falleth into disgrace He that is cheated out of his wits by the pomps and splendour of a high and prosperous estate doth think he is undone when he is brought low But it is not so with him that walks with God For being taken up with far higher things he knoweth the vanity of these As he seeth not in them any thing that is worthy of his strong desires so neither any thing that is worthy of much lamentation when they are gone He never thought that a shadow or feather or a blast of wind could make him happy And he cannot think that the loss of these can make him miserable He that is taken up with God hath a higher interest and business and findeth not himself so much concerned in the storms or calms that are here below as others are who know no better and never minded higher things 4. Walking with God doth much overcome the fear of man The fear of him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell fire will extinguish the fear of them that can but kill the body Luke 12. 4. The threats or frowns of a worm are inconsiderable to him that daily walketh with the great and dreadful God and hath his power and word for his security As Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt because he had respect to the recompence of reward so he feared not the wrath of the King for he endured as seeing him that is invisible Heb. 11. 27. 5. Walking with God doth much prepare for sufferings and death in that it breedeth quietness in the conscience so that when all is at peace within it will be easie to suffer any thing from without Though there is no proper merit in our works to comfort us yet it is an unspeakable consolation to a slandered persecuted man to be able to say These evil sayings are spoken falsly of me for the sake of Christ and I suffer not as an evil doer but as a Christian And it is matter of very great peace to a man that is hasting unto death to be able to say as Hezekiah 2 King 20. 3. Remember now O Lord how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight And as Paul 2 Tim. 4. 7 8. I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the Faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness c. And as 2 Cor. 1. 12. For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdome but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world such a testimony of conscience is a precious cordial to a suffering or a dying man The time that we have spent in a holy and heavenly conversation will be exceeding sweet in the last review when time spent in sinful vanity and idleness and in worldly and fleshly designs will be grievous and tormenting The day is coming and is even at hand when those that are now the most hardened Infidels or obstinate presumptuous sinners or scornful malicious enemies of holiness would wish and wish a thousand times that they had spent that life in a serious obedient walking with God which they spent in seeking worldly wealth and saying up a treasure on earth and feeding the inordinate desires of their flesh I tell you it is walking with God that is the only way to have a sound and quiet conscience And he thâ— is healing and setling his conscience upon the Love of God and the Grace of Christ in the time of his prosperity is making the wisest preparation for adversity And the preparation thus made so â—ong before perhaps twenty or forty or threescore years or more is as truly useful and comfortable at a dying hour as that part which is made immediately before I know that besides this general preparation there should be also a particular special properation for sufferings and death But yet this general part is the chiefest and most necessary part A man that hath walked in his life time with God shall certainly be saved though death surprize him unexpectedly without any more particular preparation But a particular preparation without either such a life or such a heart as would cause it if he had recovered is no sufficient preparation at all and will not serve to any mans salvation Alas what a pittiful provisioâ— doth that man make for death and for salvation who neglecteth his soul despiseth the commands of God and disregardeth the promises of eternal life till he is ready to dye and then cryeth out I repent I am sorry for my sin I would I had lived better and this only from the constraint of fear without any such love to God and holiness which would make him walk with God if he should recover what if the Priest absolve this man from all his sins Doth God therefore absolve him Or shall he thus be saved No it is certain that all the Sacraments and Absolution in the world will never serve to save such a soul without that grace which must make it new and truly holy The Absolution of a Minister of Christ which is pronounced in his name is a very great comfort to the truly penitent For such God hath first pardoned by his general Act of Oblivion in the Gospel and it is God that sendeth his Messenger to them in Sacraments and Ministerial Absolution
my Wife neither am I her Husband Nay more than this if you are Christians you are members of the body of Christ And therefore how can you withdraw your selves from him and not feel the pain and torment of so sore a wound or dislocation you cannot live without a constant dependence on him and communication from him Joh 15. 1 4 5. I am the true Vine and my Father is the Husbandman Abide in me and I in you I am the Vine ye are the Branches He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me ye can do nothing If ye abide in me and my words abide in you ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you So near are you to Christ that he delighteth to acquaint you with his secrets O how many mysteries doth he reveal to those that walk with him which carnal strangers never know Mysteries of Wisdome Mysteries of Love and saving Grace Mysteries of Scripture and Mysteries of Providence Mysteries felt by inward experience and Mysteries revealed foreseen by Faith Not only the strangers that pass by the doors but eveâ—â— the common servants of the family are unacquainted with the secret operations of the Spirit and entertainments of Grace and Joy in believing which those that walk with God either do or may possess Therefore Christ calleth you friends as being more than servants Joh. 15. 14 15. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you Henceforth I call you not servants for the servant knoweth not what the Lord doth but I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you It is true for all this that every true Christian hath reason and is apt to complain of his darkness and distance from God Alas they know so little of him and of the Mysteries of his Love and Kingdom that sometimes they are apt to think that they are indeed but utter strangers to him But this is because there is infinitely more still unknown to them than they know what can the silly shallow creature comprehend his infinite Creatour Or shall we know all that is to be known in Heaven before we enjoy all that is to be enjoyed in Heaven It is no more wonder to hear a believer pant and mourn after a fuller knowledge of God and neâ—râ—r access to him than to seek after Heaven where this will be his happiness But yet though his Knowledge of God be small compared with his Ignorance that little Knowledge of God which he hath attained i 〈…〉 ore mysterious sublime and excellent than all the learning of the greatest unsanctified Scholars in the world Walk with him according to the neatness of your Relations to him and you shall have this excellent knowledge of his Mysteries which no Books or Teachers alone can give You shall be effectually touched at the heart with the truths which others do uneffectually hear You shall be powerfully moved when they are but uneffectually exhorted When they only hear the voice without them you shall hear the voice within you and as it were behind you saying This is the way walk in it O that you could duly value such a friend to watch over you and for you and dwell in you and tell you faithfully of every danger and of every duty and teach you to know good and evil and what to choose and what to refuse How closely and delightfully would you converse with such a blessed friend if you rightly valued him 2. MOreover you that are the servants of God have by your Covenant and Profession renounced and forsaken all things else as they stand in any opposition to him or competition with him and have resigned your selves wholly unto him alone And therefore with him must you converse and be employed unless you will forsake your Covenant You knew first that it was your interest to forsake the world and turn to God You knew the world would not serve your turn nor be instead of God to you either in life or at death And upon this Knowledge it was that you changed your Master and changed your minds and changed your way your work your hopes And do you dream now that you were mistaken Do you begin to think that the world is fitter to be your God or Happiness if not you must still confess that both your Interest and your Covenant do oblige you to turn your hearts and minds from the things which you have renounced and to walk with him that you have taken for your God and to obey him whom you have taken for your King and Judge and to keep close to him with purest Love whom you have taken for your everlasting portion Mark what you are minding all the day while you are neglecting God Is it not something that you have renounced And did you not renounce it upon sufficient cause Was it not a work of your most serious deliberation and of as great wisdome as any that ever you performed if it were turn not back in your hearts again from God unto the renounced Creature You have had many a lightning from Heaven into your understandings to bring you to see the difference between them You have had many a teaching and many a warning and many a striving of the spirit before you were prevailed with to renounce the world the flesh and the devil and to give up your self intirely and absolutely to God Nay did it not cost you the smart of some afflictions before you would be made so wise And did it not cost you many a gripe of conscience and many a terrible thought of Hell and of the wrath of God before you would be heartily engaged to him in his Covenant And will you now live as strangely and neglectfully towards him as if those daies were quite forgotten and as if you had never felt such things and as if you had never been so convinced or resolved O Christians take heed of forgetting your former case your former thoughts your former convictions and complaints and covenants God did not work all that upon your hearts to be forgotten He intended not only your present change but your after remembrance of it for your close adhering to him while you live and for your quickning and constant preservance to the end The forgetting of their former miseries and the workings of God upon their hearts in their conversion is a great cause of mutability and revolting and of unspeakable hurt to many a soul. Nay may you not remember also what sorrow you had in the day of your Repentance for your forsaking and neglecting God so long And will you grow again neglective of him Was it then so hainous a sin in your eyes and is it not now grown less Could you then aggravate it so many waies and justly and now do you justifie or extenuate it Were you then ready to sink under the burden of it and were
wanteth more of God than he enjoyeth and his enjoying graces Love and Joy are yet imperfect But when he hath attained his nearest approach to God he will have fulness of Delight in fulness of fruition O Christians Do I need to tell you that after all the tryals you have made in the world you have never found any state of life that was worthy your desires nor that gave you any true content but only this living upon God If you have not found such comfort here as others have done yet at least you have seen it afar off within your reach As men that in the Indies in the discovery of Plantations expect Gold Mines when they find those golden sands that promise it You have found a life which is certainly desirable and leadeth to joy in the midst of sorrow And it is no small joy to have a certain promise and prospect of everlasting joy It is therefore more excusable in those that never tasted any better than the pleasures of the flesh to neglect this sweeter Heavenly life than it is in you that have been convinced by your own experience that there is no life to be compared with it 4. YOur Walking with God is the necessary prosecution of your Choice and Hopes of life eternal It is your necessary preparation to your enjoying him in Heaven And have you fixed on those Hopes with so great reason and deliberation and will you now draw back and be slack in the prosecution of them Have you gone so far in the way to Heaven and do you now begin to look behind you as if you were about to change your mind Paul setteth you a better example Phil. 3. 8 9 10 11 12 13. Yea doubtless I account all things but loss for the excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him If by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect But I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus Brethren I count not my self to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the price of the high Calling of God in Christ Jesus He compareth himself to a runner in a race that till be apprehend the price or mark doth still make forward with all his might and will not so much as mind or look at any thing behind him that would turn him back or stop him in his course The world and the flesh are the things behind us We turned our backs upon them at our conversion when we turned to God It is these that would now call back our thoughts and corrupt our affections when we should run on and reach forward to the heavenly price It is God and Heaven and the remaining duties of a holy life that are the things before us And shall we now look back what we that are running and striving for a Crown of endless glory we that if we lose it do lose our souls and hopes for ever we that have loitered in the morning of our lives and lost so much precious time as we have done we that have gone so far in our way and held out through so many difficulties and assaults Shall we now grow weary of walking with God and begin to look to the things behind us Did he not tell us at the first that Father and Mother and house and land and life and all things must be forsaken for Christ if we will be his Disciples These are the things behind us which we turned our back on when we consented to the Covenant and are they now grown better or is God grown worse that we turn our hearts from him to them when we first begun our Christian race it was upon supposition that it was for that immortal Crown which all the world is not to be compared to And have we not still the same consideration before us to move us to hold on till we attain it Hold on Christians it is for Heaven Is there not enough in that word to drive back all the cares and pleasures that importune your minds to forget your God Is there not enough in that word to quicken you up in your greatest dulness and to call you home when you are wandring from God and to make you again fall out with all that would reduce you or divert you and call it Vanity and Vexation of spirit Methinks the fore-thought of that life and work which you hope to have with God for ever should make you earnestly desire to have as much of the like on earth as is here to be attained If it will he your Heaven and Happiness then it must needs be desirable now It is not beseeming a man that saith he is seeking for perfect communion with God in Heaven and that above all things as every Christian doth to live in a daily neglect or forgetfulness of God on earth Delightfully to draw near him and exercise all our faculties upon him or for him sometime in prayer and contemplation on himself and alwaies in works of obedience to him this is the life that beseemeth those that profess to seek eternal life O therefore let us make it our daily work to keep our God and Glory in our eye and to spur on our dull affections and in the diligent attendance and following the Captain of our salvation to prosecute our expected End 5. LAstly consider that God doth purposely provide you hard entertainment in the world and cause every creature to deny you the pleasure and satisfaction which you desire that so you may have none to walk with but himself with any heart-setling comfort and content If you see not enough in him to allure you to himself you shall feel enough in the world to drive you to him If his Love and Goodness will not serve alone to make him your pleasure and hold you to him in the best and most excellent way of Love at least the storms and troubles that are abroad shall shew you a Necessity of keeping close to God and the Love of your selves shall help you to do that which was not done by the attraction of his Love alone If you will put him to it to send out his command to every creature to cross and vex you and disappoint all your expectations from it that so he may force you to remember your Father and your home deny not then but it is long of your selves that you were not saved in an easier way Would you wish God to make that condition pleasant to you which he seeth you take too much pleasure in already or seek and desire it at least When as it is the pleasantness of the
Creature that is your danger and which detaineth your thoughts and affections from himself If you could but learn to walk with him and to take up your pleasure in his Love appearing to you in his Creatures and to make their sweetness a means to your apprehension of the sweetness of his favour and of the everlasting joyes then you might say the Creature doth you good and then it 's like you might be permitted to possess and use it for such pleasure The jealous God will watch your hearts though you watch them not and he will make you know that he seeth which way they run out from him and what Creature it is that is minded and delighted in while he is neglected as if he were unsuitable and scarce desirable And you must never look that he should long permit you those prohibited delights or let you alone in those idolatrous inclinations If he Love you he will cure that Carnal Love and recover your Love to himself that hath deserved it If he intend not your salvation he may let you go and try again whether the Creature will prove better to you than himself But you cannot think that he will thus let go his Children that must live with him for ever Have you not perceived that this is the design and meaning of his afflicting and disappointing providences even to leave you no comfortable entertainment or converse but with himself and with his servants and with those means that lead you to himself If you begin to desire to lodge abroad in strange habitations he will uncover those houses and will not leave you a room that 's dry to put your head in or he will throw open the doors and leave all open to the lust of ravenous beasts and robbers He will have thy heart and he will have thy company because thou art his child and because he loveth thee He will allow thee neither thy carnal Delights or Hopes If he perceive thee either taking that Pleasure in thy Prosperity which thou shouldest take in him alone or Hoping at least that the world may hereafrer prove more amiable and delightful to thee the more he loveth thee the more his Providence shall conspire with his Grace to change thy mind by depriving thee of thy unwholsome dangerous delights and of all thy Hopes of such hereafter Use the world as a traveller for the ends to which it was ordained to the service of God and the furtherance of thy salvation and then thou shalt find that God will furnish thee with all that is necessary to these necessary ends But if the world must have your Love and Care and must be your chiefest business and delight and your excuse for not attending upon God murmure not nor marvel not if he dispose of it and you accordingly If you are yet too healthful to think with seriousness on your eternal state If you are too Rich to part with all for Christ or openly to own his Cause If you are too much esteemed in the world to own a scorned slandered Religion If you are so busie for Earth that you cannot have time to think of Heaven If you have so much delight in House or Land or in your employments or recreations or friends that God and Godliness can have little or none of your delight Marvel not then if God do shake your Health or waste your Riches or turn your Honour into contempt and suffer men to slander and reproach you and spit in your sace and make you of no reputation Marvel not if he turn you out of all or turn all to your grief and trouble and make the world a desert to you and the inhabitants as wolves and bears The great Lesson that Christ hath undertaken to teach you is the difference betwixt the Creatour and the Creature and the difference betwixt Heaven and Earth The great work that Christ hath undertaken to do upon you is to recover your hearts from the world to God And this Lesson he will teach you and this work he will do upon you whatever it cost you For it must be done Yet is not the world unjust enough or cruel or vexatious enough to you to teach you to come home and take up your content and rest in God It may then prove more cruel and more vexatious to you till you have better learned this necessary Lesson Yet is not your condition empty enough of carnal delusory pleasures to weâ—n you from the world and make you look to surer things Yet are you keeping up your worldly hopes that the world will again prove better to you and that you shall have happy daies hereafter It seems you are not yet brought low enough you must yet take another purge and perhapâ— a sharper than you took before You must have more blood letting till your delâ—ration cease and your feaverish thirst after creature-comorts do abate It is sad that we should be so foolish and unkind as to stay from God as long as any preferments or pleasures or profits in the world will entertain us But seeing it is so let us be thankful both to that Grace and that Providence which cureth us If you perceive it not better to dwell with God than with a flattering prospering world he will try whether you can think it better to dwell with God than with a malicious cruel persecuting world And whether it be better to have your hearts in Heaven than in poverty prison banishment or reproach If you find it not better to converse with God than with those that honour you please you or prefer you he will try whether you can think it better to converse with him than with those that hate revile belye and persecute you And are these the wise and wholsome methods of our great Physician And shall we not rather be ruled by him than by our brutish appetites and think better of his counsels than of the blind concupiscence of the flesh Let this be the issue of all our sufferings and all the cruelties and injuries of the world to drive us home to converse with God and to turn our desires and labours and expectations to the true felicity that never will forsake us and then the Will of the Lord be done Let him choose his means if this may be the end Let us kiss the Rod and not revile it if this may be the fruit of his corrections Who will not pray that God would deny us those contents which keep us from seeking our content in him And that he would deny us all those hurtful pleasures which hinder us from pleasing him or from making him and his waies our chiefest pleasure And that he would permit us no such creature-converse as hinderth our converse with him It is best living there be it in prison or at liberty where we may live best to God Come home O suffering Christian to thy God! take up thy Content and Rest in him be satisfied with him as thy Portion and
on their Love but upon God and therefore desire their Company but for His and if thou have His be content if thou have not theirs He wants not man that enjoyeth God Gather up all the Love and Thoughts and Desires which have been scattered and lost upon the Creatures and set them all on God himself and press into his presence and converse with him and thou shalt find the mistake of thy present discontents and sweet experience shall tell thee thou hast made a happy change 5. If God be with me I am not alone because he is with me with whom my greatest business lyeth And what company should I desire but theirs with whom I have my daily necessary work to do I have more to do with God than with all the world Yea more and greater business with him in one day than with all the world in all my life I have business with man about house or lands or food or rayment or labour or journying or recreations about society and publick peace But what are these to my business with God! Indeed wâ—â—h holy men I have holy business but that is but as they are Mâ—ssengers from God and come to me on his business and so they must be dearly welcome But even then my business is much more with God then with them with him that sent them then with the Messenger Indeed my business with God is so great that if I had not a Mediatour to encourage and assist me to do my work and procure me acceptance the thoughts of it would overwhelm my soul. O therefore my soul let man stand by It is the Eternal God that I have to do with and with whom I am to transact in this little time the business of my endless life I have to deal with God through Christ for the pardon of my sins of all my great and grievous sins and wo to me if I speed not that ever I was born I have some hopes of pardon but intermixt with many perplexing fears I have evidences much blotted and not easily understood I want assurance that he is indeed my Father and reconciled to me and will receive me to himself when the world forsaketh me I have many languishing graces to be strengthened and alas what radicated obstinate vexatious corruptions to be cuâ—ed Can I look into my heart into such an unbelieving dead and earthly heart into such a proud and peevish and disordered heart into such a trembling perplexed self-accusing heart and yet not understand how great my business is with God! Can I peruse my sins or feel my wants and sink under my weaknesses and yet not discern how great my business is with God! Can I look back upon all the time that I have lost and all the grace that I unthankfully resisted and all the mercies that I trod under foot or fool'd away and can I look before me and see how near my time is to an end and yet not understand how great my business is with God! Can I think of the malice and diligence of Satan the number power and subtilty of mine enemies the many snares and dangers that are still before me the strength and number of temptations and my ignorance unwatchfulness and weakness to resist and yet not know that my greatest business is with God! Can I feel my afflictions and lament them and think my burden greater then I can bear and find that man cannot relieve me can I go mourning in the heaviness of my soul and water my bed with tears and fill the air with my groans and lamentations or feel my soul overwhelm'd within me so that my words are intercepted and I am readier to break then speak and yet not perceive that my greatest business is with God Can I think of dying Can I draw near to judgement Can I think of everlasting joyes in Heaven and of everlasting pains in Hell and yet not feel that my greatest business is with God O then my soul the case is easily resolved with whom it is that thou must most desirously and seriously converse Where shouldst thou be but where thy business is and so great business Alas what have I to do with man what can it do but make my head ake to hear a deal of sensless chat about preferments lands and dignities about the words and thoughts of men and a thousand toyes that are utterly impertinent to my great imployments and signifie nothing but that the dreaming world is not awake What pleasure is it to see the bussles of a Bedlam world what a stir they make to prove or make themselves unhappy How low and of how little weight are the learned discourses about syllables and words and names and notions and mood and figure yea or about the highest planets when all are not referred unto God Were it not that some converse with men doth further my converse with God and that God did transact much of his business by his messengers and servants it were no matter whether ever I more saw the face of man were it not that my Master hath placed me in society and appointed me much of my work for others and with others and much of his mercy is conveyed by others man might stand by and solitude were better then the best society and God alone should take me up O nothing is so much my misery and shame as that I am no more willing nor better skilled in the management of my great important business That my work is with God and my heart is no more with him O what might I do in holy meditation or Prayer one hour if I were as ready for prayer and as good at prayer as one that hath so long opportunity and so great necessity to converse with God should be A prayerless heart a heart that flyeth away from God is most unexcusable in such a one as I that hath so much important business with him It is work that must be done and if well done will never be repented of I use not to return from the presence of God when indeed I have drawn near him as I do from the company of empty men repenting that I have lost my time and trembled that my mind is discomposed or depressed by the vanity and earthly savour of their discourse I oft repent that I have prayed to him so coldly and conversed with him so negligently and served him so remisly but I never repent of the time the care the affections or the diligence imployed in his holy work Many a time I have repented that ever I spent so much time with man and wisht I had never seen the faces of some that are eminent in the world whose favour and converse others are ambitious of But it is my grief and shame that so small a part of all my life hath been spent with God and that fervent prayer and heavenly contemplations have been so seldom and so short O that I had lived more with God though I
had been less with the dearest of my friends How much more sweet then would my life have been How much more blameless regular and pure How much more fruitful and answerable to my obligations and professions How much more comfortable to my review How many falls and hurts and wounds and griefs and groans might I have escaped O how much more pleasing is it now to my Rememberance to think of the hours in which I have lain at the feet of God though it were in tears and groans than to think of the time which I have spent in any common converse with the greatest or the learnedest or the dearest of my acquaintance And as my Greatest business is with God so my daily business is also with him He purposely leaveth me under wants and suffers necessities daily to return and enemies to assault me and affliction to surprize me that I may be daily driven to him He loveth to hear from me He would have me be no stranger with him I have business with him every hour I need not want employment for all the faculties of my soul if I know what it is to converse in Heaven Even prayer and every holy thought of God hath an Object so great and excellent as should wholly take me up Nothing must he thought or spoken lightly about the Lord. His name must not be taken in vain Nothing that is common beseemeth his worshippers He will be sanctified of all that shall draw near him He must be Loved with all the Heart and Might His servants need not be wearied for want of employment nor through the lightness or unprofitableness of their employment If I had Cities to build or Kingdoms to govern I might better complain for want of employment for the faculties of my soul than I can when I am to converse in Heaven In other studies the delight abateth when I have reached my desire and know all that I can know But in God there is infinitely more to be known when I know the most I am never satiated with the easiness of knowing nor are my desires abated by any unusefulness or unworthiness in the Object but I am drawn to it by its highest excellencies and drawn on to desire more and more by the infiniteness of the Light which I have not yet beheld and the infiniteness of the Good which yet I have not enjoyed If I be idle or seem to want employment when I am to contemplate all the Artributes relations mercies works and revealed perfections of the Lord its sure for want of eyes to see or a Heart enclined to my business if God be not enough to employ my soul then all the persons and things on earth are not enough And when I have Infinite Goodness to delight in where my soul may freely let out it self and never need to fear excess of Love how sweet should this employment be As Knowledge so Love is never stinted here by the narrowness of the Object We can never Love him in any proportion either to his Goodness and amiableness in himself or to his Love to us What need have I then of any other company or business when I have infinite Goodness to delight in and to Love further than they subserve this greatest work Come home then O my soul to God Converse in Heaven Turn away thine eyes from beholding vanity Let not thy affections kindle upon straw or bryars that go out when they have made a flash or noise and leave thee to thy cold and darkness But come and dwell upon celestial beauties and make it thy daily and most diligent work to kindle thy affections on the infinite everlasting Good and then they will never be extinguished or decay for want of fewel but the further they go and the longer they burn the greater will be the flame Though thou find it hard while Love is but a spark to make it burn and complain that thy cold and backward heart is hardly warmed with the Love of God yet when the whole pile hath taken fire and the flame ascendeth fire will breed fire Love will cause Love and all the malice of Hell it self shall never be able to suppress or quench it unto all eternity 6. And it is a great encouragement to my converse with God that no misunderstanding no malice of enemies no former sin or present frailty no nor the infinite distance of the most Holy Glorious God can hinder my access to him or turn away his Ear or Love or interrupt my leave and liberty of converse If I converse with the poor their wants afflict me being greater than I can supply Their complaints and expectations which I cannot satisfie are my trouble If I would converse with Great ones it is not easie to get access and less easie to have their favout unless I would purchase it at too dear a rate How strangely and contemptuously do they look at their inferiours Great friends must be made for a word or smile And if you be not quickly gone they are aweary of you And if you seek any thing of them or would put them to any cost or trouble you are as welcome to them as so many vermine or noisome creatures They please them best that drive you away With how much labour and difficulty must you clime if you will see the top of one of these mountains And when you are there you are but in a place of barrenness and have nothing to satisfie you for your pains but a larger prospect and vertiginous despect of the lower grounds which are not your own it is seldome that these Great ones are to be spoken with And perhaps their speech is but a denyal of your requests if not some snappish and contemptuous rejection that makes you glad when you are got far enough from them and makes you the better like and love the accessible calm and fruitful plains But O how much greater encouragements hath my soul to converse with God! Company never hindereth him from hearkening to my suit He is infinite and Omnipotent and as sufficient for every individual soul as if he had no other to look after in the world when he is taken up with the attendance and praises of his Heavenly Host he is as free and ready to attend and answer the groans and prayers of a contrite soul as if he had no nobler creatures nor no higher service to regard I am oft unready but God is never unready I am unready to pray but he is not unready to hear I am unready to come to God to walk with him and to solace my soul with him but he is never unready to entertain me Many a time my conscience would have driven me away when he hath called me to him and rebuked my accusing fearful conscience Many a time I have called my self a prodigal a companion of Swine a miserable hard-hearted sinner unworthy to be called his Son when he hath called me Child and chid me for my questioning
leaving it or talk of going home and look forward to the place where I must dwell for ever shall I be fond of the company of a passenger that I travel with yea perhaps one that doth but meet me in the way and goeth to a contrary place and shall I not take more pleasure to remember home I will not be so uncivil as to deny those I meet a short salute or to be friendly with my fellow-travellers But remember O my soul that thou dost not dwell but travel here and that it is thy Fathers house where thou must abide for ever yea and he is nearer thee than man though invisible even in thy way O see him then that is invisible Hearken to him when he speaketh Obey his voice Observe his way Speak to him boldly though humbly and reverently as his child about the great concernments of thy State Tell him what it is that aileth thee And seeing all thy smart is the fruit of thy own sin confess thy folly and unkindness crave his forgiveness and remember him what his Son hath suffered and for what Treat with him about thy future course Desire his Grace and give up thy self to his conduct and his cure Weep over in his ears the history of thy misdoings and unthankful course Tell it him with penitential tears and groans But tell him also the advantage that he hath for the honouring of his grace if it may now abound where sin aboundeth Tell him that thou art most offended with thy self for that which he is most offended with That thou art angry with thy disobedient unthankful heart that thou art even aweary of that heart that loveth him no more and that it shall never please thee till it love him better and be more desirous to please him Tell him of thy enemies and crave the protection of his love Tell him of thy frailties infirmities and passions and crave not only his tender forbearance but his help Tell him that without him thou canst do nothing and crave the Grace that is sufficient for thee that through him that strenghteneth thee thou maist do all things when thou fallest despair not but crave his helping hand to raise thee Speak to him especially of the everlasting things and thank him for his Promises and for thy hopes for what thou shalt be and have and do among his Holy Ones for ever Express thy joyes in the promise of those joyes that thou must see his Glory and love him and praise him better then thou canst now desire Begin those praises and as thou walkest with him take pleasure in the mention of his perfections be thankful to him and speak good of his Name Solace thy self in remembring what a God what a desence and portion all believers have and in considering whither he is now conducting thee and what he will do with thee and what use he will make of thee for ever Speak with Rejoycing of the glory of his works and the righteousness of his judgements and the holiness and evenness of his wayes sing forth his praises with a joyful heart and pleasant and triumphing voice and frown away all slavish fears all importune malicious suggestions or doubts all peevish hurtfull nipping griefs that would mar or interrupt the melody and would untune or unstring a raised well composed soul. Thy Father loveth thy very moans and tears but how much more doth he love thy Thanks and Praise Or if indeed it be a winter time a stormy day with thee and he seem to chide or hide his face because thou hast offended him let the cloud that is gathered by thy folly come down in tears and tell him Thou hast sinned against Heaven and before him and art no more worthy to be called his Son but yet fly not from him but beg his pardon and the priviledges of a servant And thou wilt find embracements when thou fearest condemnation and find that he is merciful and ready to forgive Only return and keep closer to him for the time to come If the breach through thy neglect be gone so far as that thou seemest to have lost thy God and to be cast off and left forsaken despair not yet for he doth but hide his face till thou repent He doth not forsake thee but only tell thee what it is to walk so carelesly as if thou wouldst forsake him Thou art faster and surer in his Love and Covenant then thou canst believe or apprehend Thy Lord was as dear as ever to his Father when he cryed out My God why hast thou forsaken me But yet neglect him not and be not regardless of his withdrawings and of thy loss Lift up thy voyce and cry but Father in despight of unbelief cry out My Father my Saviour my God and thou shalt hear him answer thee at last My Child Cry out O why dost thou hide thy face and why hast thou forsaken me O what shall I do here without thee O leave me not lose me not in this howling wilderness Let me not be a prey to any ravening beast to my sin to Satan to my foes and thine Lift up thy voyce and weep and tell him they are the tears and lamentations of his Child O beg of him that thy wanderings and childish folly may not be taken as acts of enmity or at least that they may be pardoned and though he correct thee that he will return and not forsake thee but still take thee and use thee as his child Or if thou hast not words to pour out before him at least smite upon thy breast and though thou be ashamed or afraid to look up toward heaven look down and say O Lord be merciful to me a sinner and he will take it for an acceptable suit that tendeth to thy pardon and justification and will number such a sentence with the prayers which he cannot deny Or if thou cry and canst not hear of him and hast long called out upon thy Fathers Name and hearest not his voyce and hast no return enquire after him of those thou meetest Ask for him of them that know him and are acquainted with his way Make thy moan unto the watchmen and ask them where thou maist find thy Lord. And at last he will appear to thee and find thee first that thou maist find him and shew thee where it was that thou didst lose him by losing thy self and turning from him I seek him and thou shalt find him wait and he will appear in kindness For he never faileth or forsaketh those that wait upon him This kind of Converse O my soul thou hast to prosecute with thy God Thou hast also the concernments of all his servants his afflicted ones his broken hearted ones his diseased enes his persecuted ones to tell him of Tell him also of the concernments of his Kingdome the fury of his enemies the dishonour they cast upon his Name the matters of his Gospel cause and interest in the world But still let his
Righteous Judgement be remembered and all be terminated in the glorious everlasting Kingdom Is it not much better thus to converse with him that I must be with for ever about the place and the company and work and concernments of my perpetual abode then to be taken up with strangers in my way and detained by their impertinencies I have form'd my self so long in these meditations that I will but name the rest and tell you what I had further to have treated on and leave the enlargement to your own meditations 8. I have no reason to be weary of converse with God seeing it is that for which all humane converse is regardable Converse with man is only so far desirable as it tendeth to our Converse with God And therefore the end must be preferred before the means 9. It is the office of Christ and the work of the Holy Ghost and the use of all the means of Grace and of all creatures mercies and afflictions to reduce our straying souls to God that we may converse with him and enjoy him 10. Converse with God is most suitable to those that are so near to death It best prepareth for it It is likest to the work that we are next to do We had rather when death comes be found conversing with God then with Man It is God that a dying man hath principally to do with It is his judgement that he is going to and his mercy that he hath to trust upon And therefore it concerneth us to draw near him now and be no strangers to him lest strangeness then should be our terrour 11. How wonderful a condescension is it that God should be willing to converse with me with such a worm and sinful wretch And therefore how unexcusable is my crime if I refuse his company and so great a mercy 12. Lastly Heaven it self is but our Converse with God and his Glorified ones though in a more perfect manner then we can here conceive And therefore our holy converse with him here is the state that is likest Heaven and that prepareth for it and all the Heaven that is on earth IT remaineth now that I briefly tell you what you should do to attain and manage this Converse with God in the improvement of your solitude For Directions in general for Walking with God I reserve for another place At present let these few suffice Direct 1. If you would comfortably Converse with God make sure that you are Reconciled to him in Christ and that he is indeed your friend and Father Can two walk together except they be agreed Can you take pleasure in dwelling with the consuming fire or conversing with the most dreadful enemy Yet this I must add that every doubting or self-accusing soul may not find a pretence to fly from God 1. That God ceaseth not to be a Father when ever a fearful soul is drawn to question it or deny it 2. That in the Universal Love and Grace of God to miserable sinners and in the universal act of conditional pardon and oblivion and in the offers of Grace and the readiness of God to receive the penitent there is Glad tidings that should exceedingly rejoyce a sinner and there is sufficient encouragement to draw the most guilty miserable sinner to seek to God and sue for mercy But yet the sweetest converse is for children and for those that have some assurance that they are children But perhaps you will say that this is not easily attained How shall we know that he is our friend In brief I answer If you are unfeignedly friends to God it is because he first loved you Prefer him before all other friends and all the wealth and vanity of the world Provoke him not by wilfulness or neglect use him as your best friend and abuse him not by disobedience or ingratitude own him before all at the dearest rates whenever you are called to it Desire his presence Lament his absence Love him from the bottom of your hearts Think not hardly of him Suspect him not Misunderstand him not Hearken not to his enemies Receive not any false reports against him Take him to be really Better for you than all the world Do these and doubt not but you are friends with God and God with you In a word Be but heartily willing to be friends to God and that God should be your chiefest friend and you may be sure that it is so indeed and that you are and have what you desire And then how delightfully may you converse with God! Direct 2. Wholly depend on the Mediation of Christ the great Reconciler Without him there is no coming near to God But in his Beloved you shall be accepted Whatever fear of his displeasure shall surprize you fly presently for safety unto Christ Whatever guilt shall look you in the face commit your self and cause to Christ and desire him to answer for you When the doors of mercy seem to be shut up against you fly to him that bears the keyes and can at any time open to you and let you in Desire him to answer for you to God to your consciences and against all accusers By him alone you may boldly and comfortably converse with God But God will not know you out of him Direct 3. Take heed of bringing particular Guilt into the presence of God if you would have sweet communion with him Christ himself never reconciled God to sin And the sinner and sin are so nearly related that for all the death of Christ you shall feel that iniquity dwelleth not with God but he hateth the works of it and the foolish shall not stand in his sight and that if you will presume to sin because you are his Children be sure your fin will find you out O what fears what shame what self-abhorrence and self-revenge will guilt raise in a penitent soul when it comes into the light of the presence of the Lord it will unavoidably abate your boldness and your comforts When you should be sweetly delighting in his pleased face and promised Glory you will be befooling your selves for your former sin and ready even to tear your flesh to think that ever you should do as you have done and use him as you would not have used a common friend and cast your selves upon his wrath But an innocent soul or pacified conscience doth walk with God in quietness and delight without those frowns and fears which are a taste of Hell to others Direct 4. If you would comfortably converse with God be sure that you bring not Idols in your hearts Take heed of inordinate affection to any Creature Let all things else be nothing to you that you may have none to take up your thoughts but God Let your Minds be further separate from them than your Bodies Bring not into solitude or to contemplation a proud or lustful or covetous mind It much more concerneth thee what Heart thou bringest that what Place thou art in or what work